Authorities say Pierson was babysitting 2-year-old James Lee Livesay on March 12, when the boy's mother returned and found the toddler unresponsive in her Sycamore Township home in suburban Cincinnati.

The prosecutor's spokeswoman says Pierson was allowed to plead guilty Jan. 7 to an aggravated murder count without death penalty specifications. Pierson could have been sentenced to death if convicted of the original charge of aggravated murder with those specifications.

Pierson's attorney, Norman Aubin, says the case was a tragedy. He says he thinks the sentence was in the range of similar cases.

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